Zanthoxylum ovalifolium (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Zanthoxylum ovalifolium Wight

Family: Rutaceae

Synonyms

• Fagara ovalifolia (Wight) Engler,
• Zanthoxylum inerme White & Francis,
• Z. sepearium Wight.

Distribution

India, Pakistan, Burma (Myanmar), Andaman Islands, Java, Borneo, Lesser Sunda Islands, Papua New Guinea and Australia (Queensland).

Uses

When distilled, the fruits yield an essential oil that contains myrcene and safrole and differs widely from the oil from other Zanthoxylum species.

Observations

• Erect shrub or small tree, up to 8 m tall, with unarmed branches.
• Leaves alternate, trifoliolate, 8-28 cm long, subleathery, with scattered pellucid dots; leaflets ovate to elliptical, 3-19 cm long, margin subentire to crenate.
• Inflorescence paniculate, axillary or terminal, 3-12 cm long.
• Flowers 2-3 mm long, white, sepals and petals 4; male flower with 4 stamens; female flower 1-carpellate with excentric style and globose stigma.
• Fruit a subglobose follicle, 6-7 mm in diameter, single.

Z. ovalifolium occurs in monsoon forest and thickets, up to 2000 m altitude. It is markedly different from other Malesian species and is apparently most closely related to 2 species from south-western China: Z. dimorphophyllum Hemsl. and Z. robiginosum (Reeder & Cheo) Huang.

Selected sources

• Burkill, I.H., 1935. A dictionary of the economic products of the Malay Peninsula. 2 volumes. Crown Agents for the Colonies, London, United Kingdom. 2402 pp. (slightly revised reprint, 1966. 2 volumes. Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. 2444 pp.).
• Hartley, T.G., 1966. A revision of the Malesian species of Zanthoxylum (Rutaceae). Journal of the Arnold Arboretum 47: 171-221.
• Hartley, T.G., 1970. Additional notes on the Malesian species of Zanthoxylum (Rutaceae). Journal of the Arnold Arboretum 51: 423-426.

Authors

P.C.M. Jansen